SYNC With MyFord Touch: Automotive Infotainment For All

Tom's Hardware Ventures Into Automotive Technology

It was only a decade ago that compact cars came standard with AM/FM cassette decks, and CD players were upgrade options or exclusive to higher trim levels. Navigation systems were still in their infancy and only available as expensive add-ons to luxury cars or installed aftermarket. Even then, though, they had clunky interfaces and slow response times. Compact car niceties were limited to anti-lock braking systems, leather seating, aluminum wheels, side airbags, and a handful of other comforts that certainly didn't get the tech geek in us wondering, "How does that work?"

Our 2012 Ford Focus Titanium press car poses in front of a Douglas DC-2 at Thun Field in Puyallup, Wash.

That all changed towards the late-2000s when gas prices rose and there was renewed interest in smaller, more economical cars with premium features. Honda began offering its Civic with navigation, while other manufacturers added audio system upgrades like iPod integration, auxiliary inputs, and USB storage device capabilities.

It would seem the adoption of digital media, smartphones, and portable storage that began with the MP3 file format in the late '90s became mainstream. Car manufacturers saw the trend and adapted accordingly.

Why Am I Reading This On Tom's Hardware?

Perhaps you're wondering why Tom’s Hardware is venturing into the automotive space. The answer is quite simple. The infotainment systems in cars are evolving at a brisk pace. Already, they share some of the hardware you find also in smartphones and tablets. Manufacturers are essentially integrating similar capabilities with slicker, driver-friendly user interfaces, detailed voice controls, and deep integration with other subsystems, such as climate control, the on-board computer, and the gauge cluster.

Each manufacturer implements its chosen features differently, from Ford and its Microsoft-powered SYNC, General Motors with its reliance on OnStar, or Audi's upcoming Nvidia Tegra-powered systems. The best part about the booming infotainment space is that the systems aren't limited to high-end luxury cars and showy SUVs rolling on 22-inch wheels. They're often available for most of a car manufacturer’s car line-up, from sub-compacts to sports cars. We believe the infotainment space is going to be the epicenter of technological convergence, as each builder increasingly looks to some of our favorite brands to help advance their own feature-loaded systems.

While the automotive industry as a whole works toward the common goal of providing the most useful capabilities and interfaces for drivers, they seem to all have different philosophies about control and accessibility. Some approaches work surprisingly well, while others are clunky. But in typical Tom's Hardware fashion, we want to dig into the hardware at the heart of each manufacturer's implementation, come up with our own benchmarks, and hopefully send you away with a good sense of how well each infotainment system and technology package come together.

The Focus Of Our Automotive Coverage

We acquired a 2012 Ford Focus Titanium to kick off today's coverage. This is the highest-specced trim, loaded with technology that includes the latest version of Ford SYNC with MyFord Touch, HD Radio, push-button start, Ford MyKey, and rear parking aid sensors. It carries an MSRP of $25 675. Our test mule does not have the Ford Active Park Assist feature, which helps with parallel parking, though Ford offers it as an option. We got our hands on another vehicle with Active Park Assist, and will demonstrate that to you in this story, too. 

The reason we chose Ford for our first venture into automotive coverage was because the company is Microsoft’s first partner for mobile device integration. Different variations of SYNC, MyFord, and MyFord Touch are available across the entire Ford line-up, from the Fiesta to the Super Duty pickup trucks. We specifically selected the 2012 Ford Focus, an affordable car that features the complete SYNC with MyFord Touch system. If this were a CPU, it'd be a Core i3: a mainstream offering that still packs in modernity without the price tag of a Core i5 or i7 (or a more expensive luxury vehicle).

  • jhansonxi
    SYNC is the reason that Ford's . I've also met several people who have SYNC and they've all had problems with it freezing completely or controls getting stuck. These problems either require them to stop and turn off the engine (a reboot) or take the car to a dealer to get SYNC reset.

    This is shockingly bad code quality for an embedded system. I may get a Ford vehicle in the future but it won't have SYNC in it. I'll epoxy a tablet to the dash if I need entertainment that bad.
    Reply
  • jhansonxi
    SYNC is the reason that Ford's quality has dropped:
    http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/22/autos/ford_jd_power_initial_quality/index.htm

    P.S. What's up with the broken URL parsing?
    Reply
  • mayankleoboy1
    boot benchmarks for a car :O
    What is the world coming to?
    Reply
  • SteelCity1981
    never had a problem with my SYNC in my ford.
    Reply
  • TheZander
    Drove a brand new rental Ford with all the Sync options. It was nice to be able to play music straight from my phone without taking it out of my pocket or plugging anything in. It was also nice when a call came in and a simple button push switched seamlessly from my music to the call, with good voice quality I might add. The information provided is useful and placed in areas with a focus on keeping your eyes in safer directions than some layouts, and the steering wheel button placement makes sense and also works well (for the most part) once you get used to it.

    However, there are little things here and there that show the system has tremendous potential, but lacks polish you expect when it's in your automobile. I own a reasonably new Ford (2006 Freestyle.) It's been an exceptional, sturdy, and reliable car for several years now with no mechanical issues to date. My dad owns an old Lincoln Navigator with over 370,000 miles on it, still with the original engine running. Fords have been pretty good to me and my family over the years. You put in the key, turn it, and the thing runs. You push the buttons on the door and the windows go up or down. Flip a switch and the heater comes on.

    You expect your automobiles to be like this. Ford Sync does not yet feel like this. "Do I push this button this way or that way?" "What word order do I need to use for this command?" "Why do I have to re-command Sync to start playing my phone's music via bluetooth every time I start my car rather than it just start automatically?" "Why does the system hang once in a while for no apparent reason?"

    It just doesn't yet feel like it's reliable and responsive. I was intrigued and impressed by Sync, but it needs more polish, fluidity, refinement, and most of all consistency and reliability for it to please the masses day after day, and THIS is why Sync is the single worst factor in Ford's otherwise good reliability ratings being lowered, as mentioned above.
    Reply
  • danwat1234
    I like my 1999 Honda Civic. Bullet proof reliable with 226K miles, simple and fast around corners (with an upgraded rear sway bar and good all season tires). It came with AM/FM radio and that's it. I have an FM transmitter to run anything else. All of this fancy technology ... my gaming laptop and my basic 10-key cell phone is enough. But it's great that this tech is available in inexpensive cars.
    I don't think that anybody would buy a new car just for this technology, at least I hope not. But new cars also come with stability, traction, ABS, EBD and panic brake help which is nice.
    My next car will be electric, maybe a 3-wheeled Zaptera. That's a reason to upgrade!
    Reply
  • tuanies
    9532860 said:
    SYNC is the reason that Ford's quality has dropped:
    http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/22/autos/ford_jd_power_initial_quality/index.htm

    P.S. What's up with the broken URL parsing?

    We touch on that in the conclusion. V2.0 of the software fixed a lot of the crashes and issues. We did not experience any crashes during the week we had the car.
    Reply
  • tuanies
    9532864 said:
    I like my 1999 Honda Civic. Bullet proof reliable with 226K miles, simple and fast around corners (with an upgraded rear sway bar and good all season tires). It came with AM/FM radio and that's it. I have an FM transmitter to run anything else. All of this fancy technology ... my gaming laptop and my basic 10-key cell phone is enough. But it's great that this tech is available in inexpensive cars.
    I don't think that anybody would buy a new car just for this technology, at least I hope not. But new cars also come with stability, traction, ABS, EBD and panic brake help which is nice.
    My next car will be electric, maybe a 3-wheeled Zaptera. That's a reason to upgrade!

    That sounds fancy, my daily is a '90 Miata with no power steering, manual windows, no side door guard beams and a first generation airbag. Its a ton of fun though.
    Reply
  • s3anister
    This is cool tech but I wish ford would have started doing this a year or two earlier than they did. I'd love to see an HDMI input instead of composite in and a higher-res screen for example.
    Reply
  • tuanies
    9532867 said:
    This is cool tech but I wish ford would have started doing this a year or two earlier than they did. I'd love to see an HDMI input instead of composite in and a higher-res screen for example.

    HDMI input would be nice. I think Honda is the only one that has HDMI input on the Honda Odyssey, but only on the $45k Elite model.
    Reply